Chapter 6: Fear Itself
Shirou stepped into the entryway, surveyed the environment inside, and then proceeded directly up the stairs.
Screeeech...
The old stairs groaned. Shirou immediately reached the second floor.
In the dimly lit living room, a hunched figure appeared.
"Sir, what business brings you to the Matou house so late at night?"
The old man's cold, crimson gaze was cast towards them.
Shirou raised his hand and pressed the adjacent switch; the lights in the living room instantly turned on.
The dazzling light shone on the skinny old man, causing him to squint his eyes in annoyance.
And because of this, Shirou saw the old man's appearance more clearly.
He wore a kimono with a deep blue and dark gray pattern, leaning on a wooden cane in his hand.
The head and limbs of his body had withered to an ancient state that might be mistaken for a mummy, but beneath his sunken eye sockets, his eyes still glittered with intense light.
Having long abandoned his original physical body, his current appearance resembled a Crest Worm.
A nauseating, putrid odor constantly emanated from his body.
Matou Zouken.
He had forgotten his original name over the long river of time.
Hating his gradually rotting soul and decaying body, yet unwilling to die having accomplished nothing, this eventually turned into an obsession, causing him to transform himself into a worm, parasitizing others to extend his lifespan.
His body was no different from a monster; he disliked sunlight and usually preferred to hide in dark places, resembling a vampire in this regard, but in both characteristics and personality, he was more like a damp slug.
Facing Matou Zouken, whose body and soul had long been utterly corrupted, Shirou had no intention of wasting words with him.
"Kill him."
The instant Shirou's voice fell, an explosive sound burst in the air. Karna, who had been standing behind Shirou, suddenly disappeared.
Whoosh---!
Matou Zouken's eyes only managed to catch a glimpse of the streak of golden light rushing toward him before his skull was penetrated by the fiercely thrusting spear tip.
Karna gripped his spear, driving it straight through Matou Zouken's brain and violently pinning a Brain Worm onto the wall behind.
Splat!
The worm pinned to the wall was twisting its ugly body and emitting a buzzing sound.
"Just as you said, Master, this is his true body. It's truly disgusting."
Karna spoke with a hint of revulsion.
He then flicked the tip of his spear, grinding the worm into a pulp.
Matou Zouken was terrifying to ordinary people, but to Karna, he was truly just a slightly disgusting bug.
"Dying this easily feels like letting him off too lightly."
Shirou curled his lip, looking at the spot of scarlet on the floor.
At this moment, perhaps due to the string of commotion Shirou had just caused, footsteps came from the direction of the corridor.
Walking toward the living room was a blue-haired young man, swaying as he walked, clearly looking like a drunkard.
.
.
.
In order to avoid noticing the gradually darkening night, Matou Byakuya had been immersed in alcohol since dusk.
Nothing had happened last night; it had passed smoothly.
This should have been a cause for celebration, but Matou Byakuya felt inexplicably terrified.
He constantly felt that the seemingly calm sea would sooner or later be swept by waves.
The fact that no danger occurred last night probably meant that dangerous unrest was definitely going to happen tonight.
Regarding the strange occurrences that had been threatening Fuyuki City's nights for days, Matou Byakuya naturally knew far more than the unsuspecting ordinary people.
After all, he was the eldest son and heir of the prestigious Matou family.
--- The Holy Grail War.
This approaching event, which to Matou Byakuya was equivalent to stepping onto a battlefield, kept him in a state of fear.
However, even if he wanted to escape, he was helpless.
Even though Matou Byakuya was the current head of the Matou family, the true controller of the house was actually not him.
That skinny old man, Matou Zouken, whom Matou Byakuya believed had existed for an unknown length of time, was the real controller of the Matou family.
They, the descendants, were nothing more than puppets of that old man.
The thought of this filled Matou Byakuya with sudden fear.
His only son, Shinji, had gone abroad under the pretense of studying, and Matou Byakuya desperately did not want to remain in Fuyuki City right now.
But he could no longer leave the Matou residence.
That old man wanted him to perform the Holy Grail summoning tomorrow and participate in this terrifying life-and-death struggle.
The thought of having to devour flesh and kill each other in the night starting tomorrow made Matou Byakuya feel that the current Fuyuki City was absolutely a genuine demonic realm.
Under all this pressure, Matou Byakuya only wanted to rely on alcohol to numb his senses during the nights he could spend alone.
But why was he so completely unable to sleep today?
Since midnight, Matou Byakuya had felt an inexplicable agitation, as if even the air had suddenly warmed up.
"I still haven't drunk enough!"
Gulp, gulp, gulp...
Matou Byakuya chugged another bottle of alcohol completely dry. Immediately, he felt like ten thousand little people were doing the cha-cha dance in his brain, and intense waves of dizziness washed over him.
"Ugh----!"
Matou Byakuya collapsed on the floor and began vomiting wildly. Only after his stomach was mostly emptied of alcohol did he slightly recover from his drunken stupor.
"No, this won't do!"
Startled by the sudden clarity in his head, Matou Byakuya quickly grabbed another bottle of alcohol and guzzled it down.
Soon after, sleepiness didn't arrive, but his bladder was about to burst.
Matou Byakuya stood up and walked toward his room door. Just as he was about to open it, he suddenly heard a loud noise from downstairs.
Bang!
The sudden loud sound sobered Matou Byakuya up by more than half.
"What happened?"
He opened the door and walked into the corridor, swaying unsteadily as he headed toward the living room.
As he got closer to the living room, the glaring lights made it difficult for Matou Byakuya to keep his eyes open.
Normally, the lights in the house were barely on at night because Matou Zouken disliked sunlight, and the same went for electric light.
"Someone has come, Master. Should I eliminate him?"
A man's voice entered his ears. Matou Byakuya, who had finally managed to open his eyes, saw the two figures, one large and one small, in the living room.
Standing in front was a man who could only be described as golden. His appearance was handsome enough to be called beautiful, and the golden armor he wore gleamed dazzlingly under the light, captivating the eye.
The golden spear in his hand, taller than both of them, filled Matou Byakuya with internal awe.
And standing behind this golden Lancer was a boy who appeared to be no older than six or seven.
He was a child who would go completely unnoticed if put out on the street.
However, this very child was being referred to as "Master" by the Lancer.
"Who exactly is he..."
Matou Byakuya murmured silently.
At this moment, the golden Lancer standing behind the boy suddenly vanished from Matou Byakuya's sight, and immediately after, he felt a chilling sensation around his neck.
It was only then that Matou Byakuya suddenly realized that the blade of the golden spear held by the Lancer was already resting against his neck. With just a slight application of force, he would surely die.
"Just kill him too. Neither of them are good people."
In the Matou family, only Matou Byakuya's estranged brother, Matou Kariya, was currently considered a normal person.
Hearing Shirou's words, Matou Byakuya's pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with terror.
Regardless of who this red-haired boy who suddenly appeared in the Matou house was, regardless of how he managed to break through the multiple layers of defensive Bounded Fields outside the residence, and regardless of how he dealt with Matou Zouken, none of that mattered now.
What appeared before Matou Byakuya's eyes was, without a doubt, the very Fear he had been desperately trying to temporarily forget over the past week by relying on the effects of alcohol.